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Members' lectureThe Thirty Years' War: why did it take so long to make peace? - SOLD OUT

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Historian Peter H Wilson, University of Oxford, examines the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Europe’s most destructive conflict prior to the two world wars in the 20th century.

At least 5 million people died in the Holy Roman Empire, the war’s principal battleground – one in five of the population. It was widely believed that the conflict was unleashed by the pent-up religious hatred following the Reformation, and stoked by international tensions. Once begun, the war seemed to spiral out of control, becoming impossible to stop. Though the concluding Peace of Westphalia has been much discussed as a major milestone towards a modern world order, comparatively little attention has been paid to why the conflict lasted so long. Professor Wilson will examine why peace proved so elusive and how this terrible war was eventually brought to an end.